Menominee Nation legislator Gary Besaw heads the tribe's efforts to get a new casino built in Kenosha. He talked about the situatiion on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Thursday, August 7, 2014.(Photo: Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Media)

The future of the Menominee Indian Tribe — which has been beset by high rates of mortality, unemployment, poverty, binge drinking, teenage births and obesity — rests at the site of a shuttered dog track nearly 200 miles from its reservation in Keshena.

That's where the tribe wants to build an $800 million casino complex that officials say would greatly improve the quality of life for families living at the cash-poor reservation. But while the plan for a sparkling new casino was approved by the federal government one year ago, the project remains mired in uncertainty. Gov. Scott Walker, who has the final say on whether the project will proceed, could wait until after his November re-election bid to issue a decision — which has frustrated Menominee tribal leaders.

"The longer (Gov. Walker) takes, the more hardship our people go through," said James Reiter, general manager of the Menominee Casino in Keshena. "We're talking about hope. Giving people hope for a better future."

Meanwhile, Indian gaming continues to be a steady industry in Wisconsin. About two dozen licensed casinos generate more than $1 billion annually for the state's tribes, including about $52 million for the state.

Cullen Werwie, liasion for the Department of Administration in Madison, said Walker is relying on Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch to "conduct an independent financial and economic analysis" of the proposed casino. Werwie did not say when a decision is expected, and Gov. Walker did not comment for this story.

The Wisconsin governor, who has the final authority to approve or deny the tribe's casino application, initially had a year to make a decision. But in April, Walker announced he had been granted a 180-day reprieve; the deadline was extended until Feb. 19, which allowed him to campaign without the expansion of Indian gambling being a campaign issue.

So far, Walker has not given any indication which he way he is leaning or when he will decide.

Walker's opponent, Democratic candidate Mary Burke, said she would have immediately called for an independent analysis of the Kenosha casino proposal when the plan was first proposed.

"That way, you can look at the potential for industry growth and job creation and ensure we're not just moving jobs from one part of the state to the other," Burke wrote in a prepared statement. "Gov. Walker just seems to be playing politics."

Burke did not say whether or not she would approve the proposal if she is elected governor.

With the governor's election now less than three months away, a decision from Walker probably would not influence the outcome of his re-election race, said Charles Franklin, professor of law and public policy and director of polling at Marquette Law School.

"I don't know that there is an absolute clear winning decision for the governor either way," Franklin said. "It's obviously a very complicated decision with lots of interest on both sides."

Gary Besaw, a tribal legislator with the Menominee and chairman of the Menominee's effort to build a casino in Kenosha, said a new casino could pump more than $600 million into the tribal budget in 10 years.

"Every day we've been waiting is another hip transplant that someone could have received," Besaw said. "It is another child who could have received schooling or another person who could have been provided a job.

"That's what bothers me."

Living in poverty

On the Menominee Indian Reservation, children ride bicycles and play football in the fields. Small, modest homes with well-kept yards line the streets. A sign at the community college announces fall classes that are about to begin.

But beneath the surface, life for nearly 4,500 tribal members who live on the reservation, which encompasses all but about 1 percent of Menominee County, is hard.

In 2013, the poverty rate of the Menominee — at 23.2 percent — was higher than the nationwide poverty rate at the peak of the Great Depression, which was 21.7 percent. Statewide in 2013, just over 12 percent of residents lived in poverty, according to Census Bureau statistics. Unemployment is twice the statewide average.

Today, parents of young children who want to work often find jobs, only to learn there is no daycare available. Penny Escalante, director of Menominee Tribal Daycare — the only licensed daycare center in the county — said most families wait up to a year before they land a spot for their child. The daycare is licensed to serve 186 children, but the center only has enough money to hire staff to care for 101.

"People want to work, but they can't get care for their kids," Escalante said. "And where else can they go? I don't even like to think about it."

Housing is also at a premium. At any given moment, the waiting list for one of the reservation's 333 subsidized homes is between 80 and 100 families deep; many on the list are tribal elders who moved away and want to spend their last years on the reservation they still call home. Between two and six homes open up each month, but many need extensive renovations to be brought up to code — renovations for which there are no available funds.

"It isn't like we get money and don't do good things with it," said Shane Dixon, director of the Menominee Tribal Housing Authority. "Everything we do, we do for our people."

Funding a healthier lifestyle

Tribal officials say a portion of the projected income from the new casino will fund critical medical, dental and community health services, all of which are in short supply. Jerry Waukau, Menominee Tribal Health Administrator, said the chronically underfunded Menominee Tribal Clinic can only meet about 60 percent of the needs of the estimated 9,000 people the clinic serves. Six of 10 patients seeking dental services are turned away.

With a suicide rate nearly three times the state average, Waukau said improving behavioral health programs is crucial to the tribe. But, Wakau admits, the journey to wellness has its challenges, the first of which is finding enough money to pay doctors, psychiatrists and other specialists to aid in the fight.

"We're looking at rebuilding families, rebuilding communities," Waukau said. "Our people continue to hurt; they continue to struggle in survivor mode. We need to take away the hurt and give them hope."

The needs of the whole

Indian gaming has already transformed lives on the reservation. Before the Keshena facility opened in 1987, portions of the reservation were without electricity and indoor plumbing. Tribal officials used the revenue to improve the infrastructure of the reservation and to improve life for its members.

But increased competition from the state's 11 tribes, combined with the effects of the recession, resulted in dwindling profits for the aging Menomimee Casino Resort. A massive reconstruction plan designed in 2007, which originally included a waterpark and golf course, was nixed in favor of a scaled-down $8 million restoration project with upgraded amenities but the same number of slot machines. It is the first major update to the facility since its inception.

But the ongoing project at Keshena pales in comparison to the tribe's grand plan for the shuttered Dairyland Greyhound Park.

The Kenosha plan calls for a series of phases, that upon completion, will include 3,100 slot machines, 75 blackjack tables, a 5,000-square-foot entertainment venue, a 400-room hotel, a conference center and nearly 50,000 square feet of retail space.

The Menominee said any new gambling revenue will be spent on rebuilding and reinforcing the infrastructure of the reservation, while the other half will go to human services programs.

"If I had one thing to say to the governor, it's to hurry and please say yes," Besaw said. "We can't afford to wait much longer."

Nine-month-old Simone Laender looks up as she plays with her twin sister Scarlett at the tribe's daycare center on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Thursday, August 7, 2014. The center operates at just over half of capacity because of a lack of funding to hire additional staff. (Photo: Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi)

Menominee Nation legislator Gary Besaw heads the tribe's efforts to get a new casino built in Kenosha. He talked about the situatiion on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Thursday, August 7, 2014. (Photo: Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi)

Projected profits from the casino project in Kenosha would be used to more quickly replace aging homes on the Menominee Indian Reservation. Photo taken, Thursday, August 7, 2014, in Keshena. (Photo: Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi)

Oscar Mendoza, 10, of Keshena runs for a touchdown in a flag football game on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Thursday, August 7, 2014. (Photo: Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi)

The Menominee Resort Casino in Keshena has been unable to provide enough income to keep up with the needs of the Menominee people. It was photographed, Thursday, August 7, 2014. (Photo: Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi)

The expansion of the Menominee Resort Casino was dramatically scaled back after the Great Recession but its construction contiues on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Thursday, August 7, 2014. (Photo: Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi)

A battered seal of the Menominee Nation can be seen on the side of tribally owned pick-up on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Thursday, August 7, 2014. (Photo: Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi Dan Young/Gannett Wisconsin Medi)

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In February and March, the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team published an extensive series examining tribal gaming in Wisconsin. To read more, visit www.wausaudailyherald.com/doublingdown.

Campaign donations pour in

Not everyone is happy about the Kenosha casino proposal, least of all the Forest County Potawatomi, one of the most prosperous Wisconsin tribes. The tribe, which owns and operates a Milwaukee casino that includes a new hotel complex, fears its casino would lose money if the new Kenosha casino opens — as much as 40 percent of its annual revenue.

The proposed Kenosha casino would be developed and managed by Hard Rock International, which is owned by Florida's Seminole tribe. The Menominee would maintain ownership of the casino.

After the federal government announced its decision to approve the Menominee tribe's expansion plan for Kenosha, Gov. Scott Walker pledged not to take any additional campaign money from tribal organizations. By that time last year, Walker had received donations totaling $5,600 from the Potawamtomi and its members. During the recall, the Potawamtomi also gave Walker $4,300.

Alleigh Marre, spokeswoman for the Walker campaign, said the campaign has not accepted tribal funds since August 2013.

Still, campaign donations are flowing, and the Republican Governors Association is coming up a clear winner.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida and Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment Inc., two groups backing the Menominee tribe's proposed casino in Kenosha, and the Forest County Potawamtomi have each cut big checks to the GOP organization; the two sides gave about $60,000 each in the last half of 2013 alone.